Issue 18, Fall 1990

This image is the cover of the “Alabama Heritage” magazine, specifically issue number 18 from Fall 1990. The cover features an illustration divided into three horizontal sections, each depicting six men wearing red jackets and hats, rowing a boat. The title of the magazine is prominently displayed at the top in elegant blue and black fonts. Below the title, there’s a subtitle that reads “PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA”. The background color of the cover is light beige, and the price of the magazine is .00. The main visual element is the rowing men, who are depicted mid-row with oars in hand, seated on a simplified depiction of a boat against an off-white background.

Issue 18, Fall 1990

On the cover: Illustration by Laura Woelfel-Madison based on a contemporary illustration of a Civil War submarine, possible the CSS Hunley.

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Features

The Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley

By James E. Kloeppel

When the Civil War began, the South possessed not a single naval vessel. To buy time until the Confederacy could build ships and form a navy, Confederate officials encouraged private individuals to use their own resources to capture or destroy enemy vessels and cargo. Two such individuals were Horace L. Hunley and James R. McClintock. These men would prove to be influential in the development of a new form of vessel: the submarine. The history of their submarine, the Hunley is laced with disaster and ends in mystery, but it made an important contribution to the history of naval warfare.

In this black and white image, a man appears to pose for the camera or illustration. He is a white male, approximately in his 30s or 40s. He has dark colored hair. His hair is slightly long, but he has the beginning stage of male patterned baldness. He has a mustache and full beard. The man is wearing formal dark overcoat with a white shirt. He can only be seen from the mid-chest. He is shown on a white, almost parchment like background.
Horace L. Hunley, a New Orleans lawyer and cotton merchant, became fascinated by the prospect of building a submarine capable of sinking an enemy ship. He was involved in financing at least three submarines and finally lost his life in the third one, the CSS Hunley, when it went down in Charleston Harbor with Hunley himself at the controls. [Courtesy U.S. Naval Historical Center]
In this black and white photo a man can be seen. The image has a a black frame around it, leaving an oval shaped cutout for the picture. In the black frame, there is four white or grey designs. The man has short hair, parted in the middle. He is looking off to the side. He wears a high-neck collared white shirt and light-to-medium colored jacket.
Playwright Augustus Thomas (1857-1934), who made abundant use of American subject matter in his productions, enjoyed his first popular success with Alabama (1891). He is pictured at age 31, one year before he wrote Alabama. [Courtesy The Print of My Remembrance by Augustus Thomas, 1922]

Alabama: The Play

By Charles S. Watson and Jennifer Willard

Alabama, by Augustus Thomas, was produced in 1891. It was not the first American play to use local settings and dialect, but it was immensely popular. This melodrama, though innocent of sophistication, is significant. Between its yellowed pages of sentimental dialogue and musty humor lies a message of goodwill and hope for a nation striving to reunite after a brutal Civil War. This article examines the inception, production, and legacy of this play.

The photograph is rendered in black and white, suggesting its historical nature or an intentional stylistic choice. Three individuals are present in the image: The first person, positioned closer to the camera, is partially visible. Their face is obscured, making it challenging to discern any specific features. The second individual looks at the camera, wearing a hat. The third individual stands behind a cart filled with large fish. All individuals are dressed in attire typical of an earlier era, including hats and formal clothing. The central focus of the image is the cart, which contains large fish. The cart appears sturdy and functional. In the background, we observe an industrial setting with several buildings. One of these structures emits smoke or steam, contributing to the overall atmosphere. The scene conveys a sense of activity and industry, yet there’s an underlying somberness.
Mobile cartmen with a load of fish, 1895. Most of the catch is red snapper, including the find specimen being held up for the camera. [Courtesy T.E. Armistead Collection, University of South Alabama Archives]

Excerpts from the 1878 Gulf City Cook Book

With an introduction by George H. Daniels

In the fall of 1990, the University of Alabama Press reprinted a cookbook published in 1878 by the women of the St. Francis Street Methodist Church, Mobile. The new editions, with an introduction by George H. Daniels, is a volume in the Library of Alabama Classics, a series begun by the press in 1982 and designed to make available to the public the most engaging and provocative publications of the state’s past. A portion of Professor Daniels’s introduction is reprinted here, as are selected recipes.

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